Ben Barba
| birth_place = Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia | height = | weight= | nickname = X-Factor | position = Fullback | club1 = Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | year1start = 2008 | year1end = present | appearances1 = 53 | tries1 = 40 | goals1 = 0 | fieldgoals1 = 0 | points1 = 160 | teamA = Indigenous All Stars | yearAstart = 2011 | yearAend = present | appearancesA = 2 | triesA = 1 | goalsA = 0 | fieldgoalsA = 0 | pointsA = 4 | updated = September 2011 | source = NRL Stats }} Ben Barba (born 13 June 1989) was born in Darwin, Northern Territory, is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays fullback for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs of the National Rugby League. In September, 2008, Barba was named in the 2008 Toyota Cup Team of the Year. The previous season, playing for the Bulldogs in the Jersey Flegg competition, Barba scored 130 points in 11 games. In 2009, Barba was an integral member of the Bankstown City Bulls team that won the New South Wales Cup. Barba made his NRL debut for the Bulldogs on 28 July 2008, against the St. George Illawarra Dragons, scoring one try. At the time he was called up to first-grade, Barba was working at a car wash. It was announced on July 20, 2011 that Barba had signed to the Bulldogs until the end of the 2015 season. Barba had a great season in 2011 and scored 23 tries from 24 games. Barba's form has been so impressive it earned him a selection into the 25 man Queensland state of origin squad, however Barba did not make his origin debut. Early career At a young age Ben and his family moved from Darwin in the Northern Territory to Mackay in Queensland. During his time in Queensland he played all of his Junior Rugby League for the Norths Devils Mackay Club in the North of Queensland. During his long time at the Devils he played magic Football and was one of the most talented young players in North Queensland and one of the best players the Norths Devils Club have ever produced. His Talent and excellence in Mackay eventually caught the attention of National Rugby League Club the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs. 2007-2008 He signed with the Bulldogs in 2007. Barba joined the Bulldogs in the middle of the 2007 season. At his first season at Belmore he didn't play First Grade, he played the remainder of the 2007 season in the Under 21's where he had a good first season scoring a lot of tries. In his second season at the Bulldogs in 2008 he played most of the season in the Toyota Cup Under 20's competition where he was playing magic Rugby League. Barba was scoring tries left, right and centre. He scored 26 tries in 27 games in the to Toyota cup competition in 2008. His sensational performances, try scoring ability and attacking flair caught the eye of the Canterbury Bankstown supporters. All the supporters strongly believed that he will be a future star and fan favourite and he should be put into the First Grade side and he would be able to help them win some games and avoid the wooden spoon. But Canterbury Coach, former Club player and Australian International Steve Folkes stated that he was still too young and it would be a couple of years till he would become a First Grader. As the season went on Canterbury kept on losing games and were possibly going to cop the Wooden Spoon and the fans kept on urging that Barba be put into First Grade. He finally made his First Grade Debut For Canterbury in Round 20 of 2008 where they were heavily beaten by the St.George Illawarra Dragons 30-0 at ANZ Stadium. He played 3 more games for Canterbury in 2008 but resulted in embrassing losses against the Wests Tigers at ANZ Stadium 56-4 in Round 21. A 36-12 loss to the other desperate team close to winning the Wooden Spoon the North Queensland Cowboys at Suncorp Stadium with Barba scoring his first ever First Grade try for the club in Round 22 and Round 23 in Canterbury's 52-16 loss against the Penrith Panthers at CUA Stadium. At the end of 2008 he played 4 Games and scored 1 Try. 2009 Barba started the 2009 season in First Grade under new Coach, former Canterbury player and the son of former Great and famous CEO Peter " Bullfrog " Moore, Kevin Moore. He came on as a substitute in Round 1 in Canterbury's 34-12 win over the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. That game was the game that Former NSW City, NSW State of Origin player and Former Lebanese and Australian International and Club Great Hazem El Masri became Australian Rugby League's top Point Scorer. Ben played the next couple of games in First Grade in Round 2 Canterbury's 28-26 win against the Penrith Panthers at CUA Stadium and Round 3 in Canterbury's 20-12 loss against the Gold Coast Titans at Skilled Stadium. Then after the loss he got into an incident with Canterbury team mate Jamal Idris. After the incident he was dropped into second grade and played many games and scored tries for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs reserve grade side. He returned to first grade in Round 18 in Canterbury's lucky 18-14 win against the New Zealand Warriors over in Auckland. That game was a memorable one for Barba and for the Club. The Bulldogs were down 14-12 with a couple of minutes to go, then the Dogs made a break and Barba received a pass of Ben Roberts then stepped and dived over for the winning Try. Barba eventually played the rest of the 2009 season in Reserve Grade. He played in Canterbury's 2009 NSW Cup Reserve Grade Grand Final and Premiership win over the Balmain Ryde Eastwood Tigers 32-0 where he had a Magic game where he scored a Hat Trick 3 Tries. At the end of 2009 he played only 4 Games and scoring only 1 Try like 2008. 2010 Barba started the new decade, season 2010 in First Grade. He played in Round 1 in Canterbury's 20-16 loss against the Newcastle Knights coming on as a substitute. The next week he scored his first Try of the season in the Bulldogs 26-6 loss against that year's Premiers St. George Illawara Dragons at WIN Stadium. The next week Barba came on as a Substitute and scored a Hat Trick 3 Tries in Canterbury's charging 60-14 massacre over the Sydney Roosters at ANZ Stadium. After that match he was given the Tag " The X-Factor " and became a regular First Grader. In Round 4 he scored 1 try in Canturbury's 38-16 loss to the South Sydney Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium. In Round 5 he scored a sensational try when halftime was approaching in Canturbury's heartbreaking try on full time 30-24 loss to the New Zealand Warriors at ANZ Stadium. In Round 7 he scored a great Try against the Brisbane Broncos at ANZ Stadium where Canterbury won 36-18. In Round 11 he started for the first time in the season at Halfback in Canterbury's 31-16 loss against the Penrith Panthers at CUA Stadium. In Round 15 Barba came on as a substitute, he scored 2 Tries and almost won Canterbury the game in their 25-24 loss to the Gold Coast Titans at Suncorp Stadium. In Round 16 he filled in the Five-Eighth position and scored 1 try in Canterbury's 18-10 win against the Canberra Raiders at Canberra Stadium. In Round 17 he scored 2 Tries in Canterbury's 24-12 win over the Cronulla Sharks at Bluetongue Stadium in Gosford . In Round 20 he scored 1 try in Canterbury's 32-16 loss against the Parramatta Eels at ANZ Stadium in Bulldogs veteran halfback Brett Kimmorley 300th first grade game. In Round 22 he scored 1 try in Canterbury's 30-6 loss against the Newcastle Knights at Ausgrid Stadium. He scored his final try of 2010 in Round 26 when he scored his 15th Try of the season, a brilliant long run to score in Canterbury's 30-24 win over Manly at Brookvale Oval. At the end of 2010 he played 21 Games scoring 15 Tries. 2011-2012 At the beginning of 2011 Barba made his representative debut for the Indigenous All Stars in the 2011 All Stars Match where he scored his first ever representative try in that match where they lost to the NRL All Stars 28-12. With the departure of former Canterbury and NSW Country fullback Luke Patten to English club The Salford City Reds, Barba became the Bulldogs new fullback. He played well in Canterbury's 24-14 win over the Wests Tigers in Round 1. Barba scored his first 2 tries of the season in Round 3 in Canterbury's 24-20 win over Eastern Suburbs at ANZ Stadium. In Round 6 he scored another Hat Trick 3 Tries in their 34-14 win over Great Rivals the Parramatta Eels at ANZ Stadium. The next week in Round 7 he scored 2 tries in Canterbury's 36-24 win over South Sydney at ANZ Stadium. The 2 Tries he scored that night he dedicated those tries to his new born child. A try from a well collected offload from Corey Payne in a 20-12 loss to the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium in Round 8. A dazzling try in Round 11 in the 20-12 loss against the Canberra Raiders at Canberra Stadium. In Round 13 he scored 1 try in Canterbury's heavy 38-4 loss to Manly at ANZ Stadium. A 85 metre try from a mistake from the Sharks with Bulldogs Prop Sam Kasiano picking up the loose ball then offloading the ball into Barba with him scoring in Canterbury's 26-10 loss against the Cronulla Sharks at ANZ Stadium. In Round 16 he scored 1 Try in Canterbury's 16-6 win over the Wests Tigers at Campbelltown Sports Stadium. In Round 18 he scored 1 try when he evaded two storm defenders to the tryline in Canterbury's 28-18 loss against the Melbourne Storm at Adelaide Oval. In Round 21 he scored his 15th Try of the season, a length of the field Try in Canterbury's 32-28 loss to the Sydney Roosters at the Sydney Football Stadium. He went on to bag a further 8 tries in 4 games which include a 70 metre try in Round 23 against the Cronulla Sharks in Canturbury's 19-12 victory at Toyota Stadium. A grubber kick ricochet try in Canterbury's 25-16 loss to the Manly Sea Eagles in Round 24 at Brookvale Oval. In Round 25 he scored two tries in Canterbury's 32-22 win against the Newcastle Knights at ANZ Stadium in a thrilling second half comeback after they were trailing 22-6 at halftime and Barba scoring an amazing beautiful try when he chased down a Jonathan Wright cross over kick which was going to go over the touch line then he beautifly placed the ball down with millimetres away from the white strip. In the final round of the season in Round 26 with the Bulldogs just missing out of a top eight spot in the final series. Barba scored a merciual 4 tries in Canturbury's 36-22 win against the Canberra Raiders at ANZ Stadium in retiring Bulldogs Captain and Second Rower Andrew Ryan last ever game for the Bulldogs. Barba scored a total of 23 tries in the year to finish equal top try scorer with South Sydney Rabbitohs Winger Nathan Merritt. Barba is tipped to make his Origin debut for Queensland in the 2012 NRL season. Ben began his 2012 Campaign by playing Representative Rugby League for the NRL Indigenous All Stars team in the 2012 All Stars Match where the Indigenous Team lost to the NRL All Stars 36-28. Ben scored his opening try of the 2012 NRL Season in the opening game in a 24-14 away win over the Penrith Panthers. His second try of the season came in Round 3 in Canterbury's 34-18 away win over the New Zealand Warriors. Statistics Point Scoring Summary Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs Indigenous All Stars Personal life On the 31st of march 2009 Barba was involved in a parking lot brawl with teammate Jamal Idris, they were both disciplined and dropped to second grade, now they are both the best of friends. Barba has a brother named Marmin who is said to be as good as him he is at the moment in the Parramatta Eels Toyota cup squad. Barba has two children with his girlfriend Ainslie: Bodhi (b. 2009) and Bronte (b. 2011). References External links *Canterbury Bulldogs profile Category:1989 births Category:Australian rugby league players Category:Indigenous Australian rugby league footballers Category:Indigenous All Stars players Category:Prime Minister's XIII players Category:Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Category:People from Darwin, Northern Territory Category:Living people